The Importance Of Reconstruction In The 1920's

The importance of race and white supremacy in U.S. society cannot be overstated. Race relations were particularly interesting from Reconstruction through the end of the 1920s within our own country and in our international relations. Reconstruction is an important time to begin because this is directly after the American Civil War, which was fought over slavery. The three main topics in the area of race during this era are the 13th-15th Amendments and how the Amendments were disregarded, white supremacy in international affairs, and how victims of racism banded together to fight for their rights.

Once the war came to an end in 1865, slavery came to an end as well. During Reconstruction (1865-1877) only 1 in every 5 southerners had slaves. The

The 14th Amendment declared that African Americans are citizens and the 15th Amendment said that all men have the right to vote (including African Americans). Despite legal equality of the races was increasing, segregation was also on the rise. Segregation could be divided into two categories. De Facto Segregation was segregation by culture and not by law; this could be found more in the North. The South put laws into place, instituting De Jure Segregation. When these laws, also called Jim Crow Laws, were taken to the Supreme Court through the case of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). The Supreme Court established the concept of separate but equal, which would not be challenged until the 1950’s. This concept would not be as bad if the facilities and opportunities were actually equal, but this was not the case. (Lecture

Taking away voting rights from a group of people is called Disfranchisement, which is exactly what was done. Poll taxes were instituted and regardless of how low the tax was, the cycle of poverty was heavy on African Americans, so it was still very exclusionary. Next, Southern states issued an Understanding Clause. This meant that all voters had to pass a literacy test. One might think could be reasonable, because you need to be able to read names to cast a ballot. Additionally, this could prevent uneducated poor whites from voting as well, but the graders were white. This meant the grading was subjective; they could find any reason to pass a white person and any reason to fail a black person. Louisiana started the movement of the Grandfather Clause. This clause stated that to register to vote, you had to have a relative who was registered to vote in 1860. This was before the 13th Amendment, meaning African Americans were not able to vote. Some states instituted white primaries, meaning African Americans could not vote until the general elections. The Democrat Party always won the general, so if a voter does not vote in the primary, then their right to vote is practically an